Posted on 09/29/2006 12:01:58 PM PDT by Lunatic Fringe
Just breaking on CNN
As it now appears that the house republican leadership has known about this for close to a year and tried to sweep it under the carpet, I assume you will condemn them as you would the democrats for putting children at risk. I won't hold my breath.
Isn't Beauprez running for Gov? Perhaps you mean the open seat being vacated by Beauprez.
Yes, that's correct. The asterisks denote open seats - the names are those of the current occupant.
Now it appears that it was the GOP leadership that knew and sat on the information. The rest of the thread is a condemnation of the GOP. I came back to the thread after midnight, caught up with the latest facts, and went from there.
My reputation as a straight-shooter is well-known here. Enjoy your stay here while you can.
-PJ
Welcome to FR, I think.
"My reputation as a straight-shooter is well-known here. Enjoy your stay here while you can."
I'll vouch for your conduct all through this thread!
FYI...out of curiousity I did a little reading on 'age of consent laws'
Here: http://www.coolnurse.com/consent.htm
and Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent
From what I can tell, no matter how disgusting and offensive we find Mr. Foley's behavoir, he is unlikely to ever face charges if the kid or other kids involved were 16 or older. The law is a bit confusing in that there are federal laws on the books but state law takes precedence.(i think)
It depends on which state the questionable activity took place,but in most states the age of consent is 16, although the federal laws use 18. DC is 16.
This, coupled with the parents of the kid not wanting to pursue the matter, may be why nothing was done. Just a guess. How old do you have to be to be a page in the congress?
I'm not sure what a chicken hawk is but I think he should be shunned at the very least. If that were my 16 year old son, I'd be having him prosecuted!!!
I think this is the normal first reaction in surprises like this: if it's not illegal, then it's not wrong.
Deeper thinkers see that it may have been consensual once it got that far, but the probing phase when they try to find a consenting partner (I'm not using the word Adult) puts unwilling teens in uncomfortable positions when all they wanted to do was be a Page in Congress. That's the part about creating a hostile work environment that sexual harassment laws were intended to prevent.
When comparing to the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski affair, people narrowed it down to the two having a consensual relationship, but ignored the larger issue of the hostile work environment. I repeatedly asked at the time two questions: 1) how did the other interns feel about the special attention that Lewinski got and what it meant to their ability to advance as an intern, and 2) how did long-time Presidential Secretary Betty Currie feel about her job devolving into having to hid gifts under her bed at night? Both Ms. Currie and the other interns had their jobs impacted in a very negative way by the affair between Clinton and Lewinski. Ask Ms. Currie if she felt that she was suddenly in a hostile work environment when comparing her job under Clinton to how it was with prior Presidents.
Ask the Congressional Pages, who kept being warned, how hostile their work environment was. Congressional leaders need to view this whole mess from the prism of sexual harassment and how it creates a hostile work environment.
-PJ
Right on line,
Right is funny I must say. What I was trying to say is that you were complaining as always about Florida picking a homosexual candidate. Well unless you are from Florida there is nothing you can say or do about it....understand now or do I need to hire you a tutor??? Sometimes I am amazed at your in ability to understand anything....many times over you have been confused on FREEPERS with everyone. One day you will see the light though....I have hope.
"Rodney Alexander brought to my attention the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander's. Despite the fact that I had not seen the e-mails in question, and Mr. Alexander told me that the parents didn't want the matter pursued, I told the Speaker of the conversation Mr. Alexander had with me.
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/09/tom_reynolds_st.html
The House leadership could have "asked" Foley to retire with some dignity once they determined that Foley (who they knew was gay) was sending emails to pages that were creeping them out. They didn't.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/printing.asp?id=73543
Hastert's statement from today about investigation.
Rep. Tom Reynolds
Scandal in Washington D.C. hits close to home
9/30/06
A scandal in Washington D.C. is hitting close to home. The New York State Democratic Committee is accusing Congressman Tom Reynolds of covering up an alleged sex crime. The scandal involves representative Mark Foley of Florida. On Friday he stepped down after accusations he sent sexually explicit emails to a minor.
Democrats say, Reynolds knew about these emails and did nothing. In fact, they say he helped cover them up. Foley is accused of sending emails to a former congressional "page". Pages are basically high school students who attend classes and perform various administrative duties.
This scandal comes at a critical time. Democrats need to win 15 seats in the upcoming November elections to take control of the house. Reynolds admits congressman Rodney Alexander brought the emails to his attention. But says, even though he didn’t see the emails, he still took action.
Reynolds released this statement today, "despite the fact that I had not seen the emails in question, and Mr. Alexander told me that the parents didn't want the matter pursued, I told the Speaker of the conversation Mr. Alexander had with me."
Reynolds says as far as he knows, Congressman Alexander took the matter to the clerk of the house, where an investigation was conducted.
Democratic spokesman Blake Zeff says, "this is not politics, these are facts, and these facts raise serious questions about Mr. Reynolds judgment and values."
Reynolds says he thinks Foley’s actions are unacceptable and believes he should be held accountable.
http://www.10nbc.com/news.asp?template=item&story_id=20308
Thanks for the link JaneAustin. I was going to look it up next.
You find out from Alexander's office that the boy was upset about the emails, you ask the boy some questions and determine that he knew exactly what was going on with the request for photos, and then you put that together with the fact that Foley is gay and then you ask him to retire with dignity. That's it. The end.
It's not complicated.
BASH: Hi, Fredricka. Well, that is -- that certainly has been the big question as part of the fallout from what happened, the surprising stunning news of what happened with Congressman Foley.
We knew yesterday that Tom Reynolds, the chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, who is in charge of getting Republicans elected this fall, he knew about this matter 10 to 11 months ago. And we have a statement now from Congressman Reynolds where he gives more detail about what he knew and what.
What he says is that Congressman Rodney Alexander, the congressman who sponsored the page in question, the page who had e- mail exchanges with Congressman Foley, that Congressman Alexander brought to the attention of Reynolds the existence of e-mails between Foley and the former page. And according to Reynolds' statement that we just got in, Reynolds says that he knew about the e-mails, he had not seen -- seen the e-mails, but he did tell the speaker of the House that he had this conversation and that he knew about these e-mails. That is what is interesting and noteworthy about this particular piece, this particular development, which is that Tom Reynolds knew about this, but that he also informed the speaker.
This is something that we're certainly looking into because until now, the speaker of the House and his office had made very clear the speaker was surprised by this news when it all came out yesterday.
WHITFIELD: Right.
BASH: The other thing the statement says, Fredricka, I should mention is that when Congressman Reynolds was informed about this he also was informed that the matter was being taken up by the board, by the Page Board, and that the parents of this boy made clear, apparently, that they didn't want this matter further pursued. WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash, thank you so much. Very interesting. And we'll follow up on that, because we know that House Speaker Hastert has made it very clear within the past 24 hours that he has only as of recent learning about Mark Foley and these inappropriate e-mails taking place with teenage pages.
Dana Bash, thanks so much from Washington.
Internal Review of Contacts With the Office of the Speaker Regarding the Congressman Mark Foley Matter
9/30/2006 7:08:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Ron Bonjean or Lisa C. Miller, 202-225-2800, both of the Office of Dennis Hastert
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- On Friday, September 29, the Speaker Dennis Hastert directed his Chief of Staff and Outside Counsel to conduct an internal review to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding contact with the Office of the Speaker regarding the Congressman Mark Foley matter. The following is their preliminary report.
Email Exchange Between Congressman Foley and a Constituent of Congressman Alexander
In the fall of 2005 Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in the Speaker's Office, received a telephone call from Congressman Rodney Alexander's Chief of Staff who indicated that he had an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House page. He did not reveal the specific text of the email but expressed that he and Congressman Alexander were concerned about it.
Kennedy immediately discussed the matter with his supervisor, Mike Stokke, Speaker Hastert's Deputy Chief of Staff. Stokke directed Kennedy to ask Ted Van Der Meid, the Speaker's in house Counsel, who the proper person was for Congressman Alexander to report a problem related to a former page. Ted Van Der Meid told Kennedy it was the Clerk of the House who should be notified as the responsible House Officer for the page program. Later that day Stokke met with Congressman Alexander's Chief of Staff. Once again the specific content of the email was not discussed. Stokke called the Clerk and asked him to come to the Speaker's Office so that he could put him together with Congressman Alexander's Chief of Staff. The Clerk and Congressman Alexander's Chief of Staff then went to the Clerk's Office to discuss the matter.
The Clerk asked to see the text of the email. Congressman Alexander's office declined citing the fact that the family wished to maintain as much privacy as possible and simply wanted the contact to stop. The Clerk asked if the email exchange was of a sexual nature and was assured it was not. Congressman Alexander's Chief of Staff characterized the email exchange as over-friendly.
The Clerk then contacted Congressman Shimkus, the Chairman of the Page Board to request an immediate meeting. It appears he also notified Van Der Meid that he had received the complaint and was taking action. This is entirely consistent with what he would normally expect to occur as he was the Speaker's Office liaison with the Clerk's Office.
The Clerk and Congressman Shimkus met and then immediately met with Foley to discuss the matter. They asked Foley about the email. Congressman Shimkus and the Clerk made it clear that to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and at the request of the parents, Congressman Foley was to immediately cease any communication with the young man.
The Clerk recalls that later that day he encountered Van Der Meid on the House floor and reported to him that he and Shimkus personally had spoken to Foley and had taken corrective action.
Mindful of the sensitivity to the parent's wishes to protect their child's privacy and believing that they had promptly reported what they knew to the proper authorities Kennedy, Van Der Meid and Stokke did not discuss the matter with others in the Speaker's Office.
Congressman Tom Reynolds in a statement issued today indicates that many months later, in the spring of 2006, he was approached by Congressman Alexander who mentioned the Foley issue from the previous fall. During a meeting with the Speaker he says he noted the issue which had been raised by Alexander and told the Speaker that an investigation was conducted by the Clerk of the House and Shimkus. While the Speaker does not explicitly recall this conversation, he has no reason to dispute Congressman Reynold's recollection that he reported to him on the problem and its resolution.
Sexually Explicit Instant Message Transcript
No one in the Speaker's Office was made aware of the sexually explicit text messages which press reports suggest had been directed to another individual until they were revealed in the press and on the internet this week. In fact, no one was ever made aware of any sexually explicit email or text messages at any time.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/printing.asp?id=73543
Thanks for posting this link. I don't see any cover up here.
I can assure you that my first thought was not anything like what you describe. It is disgusting and morally bankrupt, I don't give a rat's ass if it was legal or not.
I was just trying to warn others that he will likely never be prosecuted for this or other IM with the other 'reported' pages.
What really is making me mad now is this huge mess that our little perverted congressman has left behind for us all. Where the hell is he? I think he has some explaining to do! He is just going to ride off into the sunset, while the dems try to blame the entire GOP for his crap?!
ping to #1497.
It appears that the press release has the documented truth regarding who knew what and when. Foley is still a no count pervert. No indication of a coverup by the House leadership.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.